President Adama Barrow has ordered the suspension of at least five senior security officers stationed at the Banjul International Airport after two exiled military general returned to the country unnoticed.
Pa Ndure, commissioner of immigration, his assistant ASP Omar Fofana, Police Chief Superintendent Buba Jersey, Chief Intelligence Officer Amadou Kinteh of SIS and Airport Security Officer Lamin Jatta were suspended as an investigation into the security lapse at the airport is being launched.
Jatta and Kinteh were seen on security camera footages welcoming and socializing with Lt. Gen. Ansumana Tamba and Lt. Gen. Umpa Mendy after they arrived from Equatorial Guinea.
The two general transited via Morocco. The men that noticed and identified the former military aides of ex-President Yahya Jammeh did not question the generals and failed to report their arrival to their seniors at the various agency headquarters.
Tamba and Mendy were arrested from their homes after a civilian had reported citing one of the men in their neighborhood. The military police arrested them after receiving a tip from the unnamed civilian man.
Tamba and Mendy fled the country with Jammeh. They are all accused of human rights abuses. Last month a law was passed to set up such a commission to examine state crimes during Jammeh’s 22-year tenure.
Barrow has established a commission of inquiry into Jammeh’s assets. Gambian ministers alleged last year that Jammeh had siphoned off more than $50m meant for social security, the ports and telecoms, and left the country with a debt of at least a billion dollars.